Billboard vegetation management
Vegetation management and completion

Conducting the vegetation management

Before conducting vegetation management under an BVM Permit, an applicant must submit an Advance Notice through CPS at least five (5) days prior to the commencement of the work and receive approval of the Advance Notice from MDOT. A separate Advance Notice and approval is required for each BVM Permit.

All vegetation management and mitigation (if applicable) must be complete no later than ninety (90) calendar days after the issuance of the BVM Permit, unless an extension is allowed by the permit. A failure to complete the vegetation management within the time limit specified by the permit will result in the permit's expiration or revocation. An applicant may, one time only, pay a $150 fee to extend the permit's time limit an additional 30 days. After a permit has expired or been revoked, an applicant must submit a new application if the applicant still wants to conduct the vegetation management.

All vegetation management and mitigation must be performed under the direct supervision of an ISA-certified arborist.

Removing more trees or shrubs than is authorized by the BVM permit subjects the applicant to the following penalties:

• For the first 3 violations during a 3-year period, a penalty of an amount up to $5,000.00 or the amount authorized as a penalty in section 11(1) [i.e., a fine of $10,000.00 or up to 5 times the value of the trees or shrubs trimmed or removed], whichever is greater.
• For the fourth violation during a 3-year period and any additional violation during that period, a penalty of an amount up to $25,000.00 or double the amount authorized as a penalty in section 11(1), whichever is greater, for each violation [MCL 252.311a(16) and MCL 252.311(1).]
• For the fourth violation during a 3-year period, and any additional violation, a person is not eligible to obtain or renew a permit under this section for a period of 3 years from the date of the fourth violation.

Vegetation management completion

After the vegetation management and mitigation (if applicable) is completed, the applicant must submit a Completion Notice through CPS within seven (7) calendar days so that MDOT may conduct a final inspection and issue a Final Inspection Report. 

A failure to obtain a Final Inspection Report will prevent an applicant from applying for and obtaining a BVM Permit to manage regrowth.

The applicant must submit new digital, high-resolution, color photographs of the billboard and VRA showing the vegetation management and mitigation (if applicable) that was performed. To simulate the billboard's visibility to the traveling public, the photographer must take the first photograph from the limit of the VRA furthest from the billboard, and another photograph every second of travel at the posted speed limit as the photographer moves towards the billboard. Photographs should be taken facing the billboard and as close to the main-traveled way as possible. The photographer must take a final photograph perpendicular to the billboard face and with the billboard's permit number completely legible. The applicant must also submit digital high-resolution color photographs of any mitigation conducted under the BVM Permit that was performed at a location other than the billboard's VRA. The photographs should be stored in the JPEG (.JPG) file format with an individual file size under 3 megabytes (3 MB).  

A failure to submit the photographs of the billboard and VRA will prevent the applicant from obtaining a Final Inspection Report.